Are Polyps Harder to Detect in Women?

Posted by Kate Murphy on May 12th, 2011

Digestive Disease Week  2011 Update

Although many studies show that men have more adenomas (pre-cancerous polyps) than women, there is no difference in rates of colorectal cancer between men and women.

Could this be because women have polyps that are harder to detect during screening and so aren’t removed in time to prevent cancer?

That was the question that Dr. Joseph Anderson at the University of Connecticut asked. Read the rest of this entry »

Pre-Surgical MSI Testing for Young Patients

Posted by Kate Murphy on May 12th, 2011

Digestive Disease Week 2011 Update

Finding colorectal cancer patients with Lynch syndrome helps both patients and their families to prevent cancer.

Lynch patients are at high risk for a second or third colon cancer, so identifying them before their colorectal surgery may change the operation planned.  Surgeons may want to remove the entire colon to prevent another colon cancer, and women may choose to have a hysterectomy during the same surgery to prevent endometrial cancer.

Because young patients are more likely to have Lynch syndrome, pathologists at the Mayo Clinic tested tumors from patients 50 years old or younger for microsatellite instability (MSI) after their surgery if they had not been tested preoperatively. Read the rest of this entry »